Antivirus software pioneer John McAfee has reached a settlement with Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) over a lawsuit he filed seeking to make use of his name on his other projects following the sale of his computer security company to the chipmaker. Sitting in a Manhattan court, Paul Oetken, a U.S. District Judge, dismissed the lawsuit McAfee had filed last year in September. He also dismissed a countersuit that had been filed by the chipmaker on Wednesday, just five days following the signing of a settlement agreement.
According to McAfee, he filed a suit against Intel after the chipmaker warned him that use of his name would constitute an infringement of its trademarks. This included renaming his cybersecurity and digital gaming firm that currently goes by the name of MGT Capital Investments Inc to ‘John McAfee Global Technologies Inc’.
Virtual currency mining
Some of ventures that MGT Capital Investments Inc currently involves itself in includes mining of virtual currencies. Last year in July the firm announced that it would begin mining of bitcoin. Then in September the company reported that the average number of bitcoins they were mining per month was 90. Less than a fortnight ago, MGT ventured into Ethereum mining.
The settlement now bars McAfee from using his name or trademarking his name or associated names such as ‘John McAfee Global Technologies’ or John McAfee privacy Phone’ in regards to products or services that are related to security of cybersecurity.
No admission of wrongdoing
McAfee, however, retained the right to use his name in other contexts such as presentations, promotions, and advertising even in connection to his former role at McAfee Associates, the firm that was acquired from him by Intel in 2010 for $7.7 billion. Neither of the two parties admitted any wrongdoing before reaching the settlement.
Earlier in the year, the cybersecurity division of Intel was spun off to form McAfee LLC after the chipmaker sold a 51% stake to TPG Capital, a private investment firm. Intel’s 49% stake including debt was valued at $4.2 billion.
On Wednesday shares of Intel Corporation rose by 2.63% to close the day at $34.34.
